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Chapter 10 - A Sanctuary (CitC)
Tubba couldn't remember being in a worse state of mind. Yeah, there had been times after he killed Bubba that he ran around like a murdering psychopath. Yeah, there had been times in the flying Glitz Pit sweatshop that he felt horrible and that everyone hated him. But now, Tubba had nothing. Even when he split from the Kingdom the last time, he was fished aboard the SS Mahruav before he had to ponder the thought of being alone. When he left the SS Mahruav, he had Chubba. And while Chubba turned out to be a nasty piece of work, he was still Tubba's brother, and he had the other battlers. But now he had no one. No Clubbar. No SS Mahruav. No Kingdom. No Chubba. No other battlers. Just himself, wandering aimlessly through Forever Forest. Ignoring the telltale cackle of Boos attempting to scare him, Tubba wandered through the Forest, head down. What was he to do? I can't go back to the Glitz Pit. Chubba would have my head. I can't go back to the Kingdom, it'll probably fall soon. What am I supposed to do? I don't even have Clubbar... ''Tubba's belly twisted in anxiety for the old Clubba, and he closed his eyes as his head spun, nearly making himself fall over. Tubba stopped. He knew he couldn't continue through the Forest aimlessly; he was a wanted man in three Kingdoms now. His own, for running away from the battle, the Mushroom Kingdom as a prisoner of war, and the BeanBean Kingdom for the same reason. ''I need to find a safe place. ''The purpose seemed to ease his churning belly and his spinning head. Opening his eyes to the dark twigs and bark of Forever Forest, a place shrouded in eternal night, he hoisted his club higher on his right shoulder. There was nothing to be gained wandering aimlessly. He was inside the Clubba Kingdom, a place that would soon be dissolved: there was no way they were winning the audacious attack on their own capital. The Mushroom Kingdom bordered it on all sides. If he continued south, he would enter the Mushroom Kingdom as soon as he left Forever Forest. West would be even worse, as he would stumble on one of Princess Peach's various Castles. East would take him to the ocean, but he lacked a ship, and north would take him right back to Gusty Gulch and to his death. Looking around in Forever Forest for no reason in particular, he saw some Boos floating around, instantly vanishing as he noticed them. And then it hit him. ''Bow! ''If there was anyone he could trust in this time, it would be Lady Bow, the leader of the legion of Boos in Forever Forest. She was loyal to the crown, which Tubba was. ''Unless she's loyal to Mazette now. ''The second voice in his head cautioned, Tubba snorted. ''Yeah, Bow would love being friends with a psychopath who would do anything to hold onto the crown. ''Realizing how ironic it was, Tubba shot back: ''Well? What do you think I should do? The second voice in his head with an air of smugness said: Why don't you head to the Koopa Kingdom? Tubba laughed out loud, scaring some of the Boos who had been trying to scare him. Yeah, sure, I'd love to ask Bowser to be my ally. We're best mates, especially after what we did to Hareth. I like my head where it is, I don't think Bowser is an option. Bow is less of an option! ''The second voice in his head was starting to sound more and more like Clubbar. '' Bowser at least has a Kingdom that you can fight back with! Who says I want to fight back? But even as Tubba grudgingly argued with himself, he saw that he had a point. Bow could easily be loyal to Mazette, and he would send himself right back into trouble. Bowser, while they had fought with him in recent times, had a much deeper and hated longstanding grudge with the Mushroom Kingdom- the very Kingdom that annexed the Koopa Kingdom twenty years ago. After ten years of civil war, the Koopa Kingdom declared independence once again ten years ago. The Clubba Kingdom had also aligned themselves with the Koopa Kingdom in the independence movement, supporting Bowser's conquest of Star Haven fifteen years ago. Bowser was his best bet. Making up his mind, he starting walking again. Once he left the Clubba Kingdom's southern border to the Mushroom Kingdom, he would have to cross a gap of Sky Land to get to the Koopa Kingdom. As long as he didn't linger in Sky Land and took the backroads, he would be alright. Pushing aside the thick overgrown underbrush at the edge of the path, he decided to leave the path. If there was a place he would be unsafe, it would be using the very path that led to his former Kingdom. It took Tubba twelve days of trekking through the Forests of Forever, Nimbus Land, and the towering Mushroomas mountains, before the Koopa Kingdom came in sight. Living off the natural plants and trees of the Mushroom Kingdom, the journey left him sore and scratched, bleeding and weary. He had encountered trouble in Nimbus Land, where the commoners sighted him and informed King Mallow, the king of Sky Land, that he was roaming the area. Tubba cut his leg on a rock on the mountains, and he had an inkling the scales were infected, judging by the way they were shrouded with yellow pus. The Koopa Kingdom, formerly the Mushroom province of Dark Land, was surrounded by towering mountains on all sides. The Mushroomas, the Mushroom Kingdom side, were round and wide, making them an easy climb, but the Koopalps mountains were sharp and steep. Tubba, who hadn't come all the way to the Koopalps to quit, began to scale those mountains as well. A night of blistering cold atop a jagged peak was countered by a night of blazing hot sleeping next to a lava valley. He had to make his way to the capital. His injured leg scales had begun to bite painfully, and had now turned to an eerie shade of green. Four nights later, Tubba found himself at Neo Bowser City, the largest city in the Mushroom World. Fever had wracked him the past two days, and headaches the past three. He knew he needed to get to Bowser's largest Castle as soon as possible. If he was rejected by the Kingdom, it would be a fourth Kingdom he could not turn to, and quite possibly the end of his battle. He had got some weird looks as he limped on the sidewalks of the city, his injured scales pulsing painfully. While he wanted to stop a doctor's office and heal his injured scales before they got terminal, that desire was counteracted by the desire to get to the Koopa Kingdom as fast as possible. His healing could take days, possibly weeks. The Castle was on the other end of the city in reference from the Koopalps, surrounded by a lava pool. Stumbling up the path on either side of the lava pool that surrounded Bowser's Castle, Tubba knocked three times on the gate on the courtyard and leaned over, the pain in his leg unbearable. All he could do was hope that the Koopa Kingdom would help.